Sergei Merts, Candidate of Physics and Mathematics, a senior researcher of the Laboratory of High Energy Physics has become the winner of the prestigious All-Russian Award “For Loyalty to Science”. The Press Secretary of the President of the Russian Federation Dmitry Peskov presented the award in the nomination “Science is fashionable” to the scientist. The festive awarding ceremony took place on 24 November in Moscow at the Zaryadye Concert Hall.

Sergei Merts works on the NICA Megascience Project and actively participates in scientific and educational events, where he tells audiences of different ages about the collider under construction, its physical tasks and capabilities, as well as what it means to be a modern young scientist. Sergei is an active participant in the international collaboration BM@N, which is the first experiment operating at NICA. The main direction of his activity in the project is processing of experimental data. He is the author of more than 50 scientific publications and participant of more than 40 international scientific conferences.

“In our country, there used to be only Mikhail Kovalchuk who could explain in understandable Russian how a nuclear reactor works. Now we have another person who can do the same thing, as well as speak about the collider in plain Russian,” the Press Secretary of the Russian President Dmitry Peskov said at the awarding ceremony.

Sergei Merts shared his impressions after the awarding ceremony, “Not only the award itself was a surprise for me, but also the nomination, because I have never thought that science is fashionable. It has just been with me, it is constant, eternal. I am happy that I was able to become one of those scientists who bring science closer to people.” Sergei said that in addition to his loved ones, the Joint Institute for Nuclear Research always supports and inspires him to new achievements. “There are many people at JINR working hard to make our Institute more recognisable, to promote scientific knowledge. The Institute regularly initiates new popularising projects. I am happy to be a part of such a big, loving its job team,” the laureate of the award stressed.

The Loyalty to Science Award in the nomination “Science is Fashionable” is given to candidates and doctors of sciences under the age of 39 who are actively engaged in scientific and educational activities. It should be reminded that this year two applications from the Joint Institute short-listed for the award: Sergei Merts and the comic book series “Science in comics: putting complicated things simple” – a joint project of the Laboratory of Nuclear Problems JINR and the Komikadze artel. Academician Yuri Oganessian became the winner of the competition from JINR last year.

Representatives of DLNP JINR and the Komikadze artel at the awarding ceremony